Electric highway will link state with charging stations (http://www.rgj.com/story/money/business/2015/07/14/electric-highway-will-link-state-charging-stations/30111651/?hootPostID=0461ad1d297a59221caf27f086eb3012)
Reno Gazette-Journal, 7/13/15
QuoteBusinesses or government entities along U.S. 95 between Las Vegas and Reno have the opportunity to participate in electrifying Nevada's highways. NV Energy and the Nevada Governor's Office of Energy are looking for partners in key communities to provide electric vehicle owners the ability to drive and charge their vehicles between Reno and Las Vegas. This effort will include "fast-charge" technology, which is important for long-distance travel.
QuoteNV Energy and Nevada are soliciting interest from businesses and government entities along U.S. Route 95 in communities such as Fallon, Hawthorne, Tonopah and Indian Springs that would like to host charging stations and support electric vehicle infrastructure development.
The article goes on to say that businesses will go through an application process to determine optimum station locations, and then NV Energy (the state's major electric utility) will help with funding for installation.
They've listed the major pit stop cities on the Vegas-to-Reno route. Beatty is a more logical location than Indian Springs for statewide travel (since Beatty is closer the 1/4-way point between Vegas and Reno, and is also the Nevada gateway to Death Valley), but Indian Springs makes more sense to capture commuter traffic between the Vegas area and Creech AFB at Indian Springs.
It's also worth noting that this route is along the proposed I-11 corridor, should that highway every actually be extended north of Las Vegas...
Quote from: roadfro on July 16, 2015, 04:37:06 PM
It's also worth noting that this route is along the proposed I-11 corridor, should that highway every actually be extended north of Las Vegas...
Electric Car Charging on I-11!
Maybe that would actually be a decent idea to put it at rest stops.
Ah yes. A local mall put in Tesla chargers here. One of those "If You Build it They Will Come" things.
So far, I've seen one Tesla on the road around here.
Multiplex cinemas are a good place for charging stations. Whenever I make a trip that requires a stop to charge, I try to find a charging station along the way within walking distance of a multiplex cinema. I always have a full or nearly full charge by the time the movie is finished.
Quote from: Rothman on July 16, 2015, 09:27:11 PM
Ah yes. A local mall put in Tesla chargers here. One of those "If You Build it They Will Come" things.
So far, I've seen one Tesla on the road around here.
I think it would be cool if the state would replace the CNG cars with Teslas. They could build charging infrastructure in the parking lot. These would be very convenient for trips in range because they could be plugged in when returning rather than taking time to refuel.
Quote from: vdeane on October 27, 2015, 01:03:21 PM
Quote from: Rothman on July 16, 2015, 09:27:11 PM
Ah yes. A local mall put in Tesla chargers here. One of those "If You Build it They Will Come" things.
So far, I've seen one Tesla on the road around here.
I think it would be cool if the state would replace the CNG cars with Teslas. They could build charging infrastructure in the parking lot. These would be very convenient for trips in range because they could be plugged in when returning rather than taking time to refuel.
Depends on how long it takes to charge up one of them. It would indeed be nice to drive out to another Region, have your meeting and even charge up during the meeting and then return (or charge overnight and return the next day...whatever).
Quote from: Rothman on November 16, 2015, 12:22:33 PM
Depends on how long it takes to charge up one of them. It would indeed be nice to drive out to another Region, have your meeting and even charge up during the meeting and then return (or charge overnight and return the next day...whatever).
Charging during a meeting is realistic.
I can see it now: charging stations at every rest area in America!
Quote from: iBallasticwolf2 on July 16, 2015, 08:01:16 PM
Quote from: roadfro on July 16, 2015, 04:37:06 PM
It's also worth noting that this route is along the proposed I-11 corridor, should that highway every actually be extended north of Las Vegas...
Electric Car Charging on I-11!
Maybe that would actually be a decent idea to put it at rest stops.
Will the charging stations be an overbuilt pork-barrel waste of taxpayer money, to match the highway?
Quote from: Henry on November 18, 2015, 12:01:15 PM
I can see it now: charging stations at every rest area in America!
All the Massachusetts and Connecticut Turnpike rest areas I've been to lately have them. Connecticut's, though, are reserved for the elite owners of one brand of electric vehicle. Turns out my truck fits their parking space, too.
BUMP
The first of the stations has been installed.
Sandoval electrifies highway to Reno (http://www.reviewjournal.com/news/traffic-transportation/sandoval-electrifies-highway-reno)
Las Vegas Review Journal, 3/1/2016
Quote
BEATTY — Gov. Brian Sandoval rolled up to a new electric car charging station here in an electric Ford Focus emblazoned with a Nevada Department of Transportation logo and plugged into a charging port like he had done it a thousand times.
Quote
About 40 people – a mix of Valley Electric Association board members and executives, residents of the small town that is the gateway to Death Valley National Park, employees of Eddie World, an iconic stopover on the seven-hour trip between Las Vegas and Reno, and curious travelers on U.S. Highway 95 – gathered to watch Sandoval and others cut a ribbon marking the official opening of the charging stations.
There are two charging stations at the site with three ports each. Two of the ports have connections that will fully charge a vehicle in four hours, but one of them has a fast charge that can take a vehicle to 80 percent charged within 30 minutes.
Quote
The opening of the Beatty charging station is the first of four planned along U.S. 95, the 448-mile primary route between the state's two most populous cities, Las Vegas and Reno.
Other stations are planned in Tonopah, Hawthorne and Fallon. Sandoval said he plans to celebrate them all.
"This really is significant for us," he said. "Just think about it. This is the first electric highway in the United States. And when I talk about the New Nevada, it's significant steps like this that show the rest of the country that we are tech savvy, especially when it comes to electric cars and autonomous vehicles."
Sandoval announced plans for the electric highway concept in the summer. Phase 1 is getting charging stations on Nevada's most important intrastate route. Once that is complete, there are plans to electrify U.S. Highway 93 from Las Vegas to Wells; state Route 318 from north of Alamo to Ely; U.S. Highway 50 from Fernley to Ely, and Interstate 80 from Fernley to the Utah state line at Wendover.
"This really is significant for us," he said. "Just think about it. This is the first electric highway in the United States."
That is a complete frickin' lie. We have the Electric Highway setup along I-5 and most of US 101. Screw them Nevadans.
Rick
Quote from: nexus73 on March 08, 2016, 11:43:51 PM
"This really is significant for us," he said. "Just think about it. This is the first electric highway in the United States."
That is a complete frickin' lie. We have the Electric Highway setup along I-5 and most of US 101. Screw them Nevadans.
Rick
I drove Highway 95 between Las Vegas and I-80 near Reno about five years ago, and recall there was virtually NOTHING...for 400+ miles! With that said, I don't see the immediate need to electrify Highway 95, since you might get one or two vehicles per hour at most.
QuotePhase 1 is getting charging stations on Nevada's most important intrastate route. Once that is complete, there are plans to electrify...U.S. Highway 50 from Fernley to Ely...
It may be The Loneliest Road In America, but it will be Electrified!
Looking at the most recent Nevada DOT traffic reports, which can be accessed here (https://www.nevadadot.com/About_NDOT/NDOT_Divisions/Planning/Traffic/2014_Annual_Traffic_Reports.aspx), AADT on the most isolated stretches of US 95, particularly west and then north of Tonopah, runs a little above 2000 vehicles per day. That's bumper-to-bumper compared to US 50 from the Gabbs turnoff out to Eureka, a stretch of 130 miles or so where AADT stands at about 550-650 vehicles per day.
Build it and they will come? Not too likely out there. It's a cool idea, but premature in some of these locations, just an extremely high cost per car ratio.
Demand might have nothing to do with it: Tesla has a large factory in Nevada. This is probably marketing.
Quote from: vdeane on March 10, 2016, 07:40:54 PM
Demand might have nothing to do with it: Tesla has a large factory in Nevada. This is probably marketing.
If it was marketing, why wouldn't they start with more heavily traveled routes, such as I-80 or I-15? You'd get a lot more visibility on routes that people more frequently drive.
^ A conscious decision was made in selecting US 95 to have this first electric highway link Nevada's major population centers.
Quote from: abqtraveler on March 09, 2016, 06:50:27 PM
Quote from: nexus73 on March 08, 2016, 11:43:51 PM
“This really is significant for us,” he said. “Just think about it. This is the first electric highway in the United States."
That is a complete frickin' lie. We have the Electric Highway setup along I-5 and most of US 101. Screw them Nevadans.
Rick
I drove Highway 95 between Las Vegas and I-80 near Reno about five years ago, and recall there was virtually NOTHING...for 400+ miles! With that said, I don't see the immediate need to electrify Highway 95, since you might get one or two vehicles per hour at most.
That's a good thing. At maximum, only 6 cars can be charging at one time, and 4 of them would be on a slow charge. Rough calculations would say there wouldn't be enough charging ports if you had more than 3 or 4 cars per hour stopping at the charging station.
I wonder what they're going to put around the charging port, or are people going to have to sit on a park bench or in their car in desert heat waiting for the vehicle to charge up?
Quote from: jeffandnicole on March 16, 2016, 11:30:36 AM
I wonder what they're going to put around the charging port, or are people going to have to sit on a park bench or in their car in desert heat waiting for the vehicle to charge up?
Gee, it's in Nevada. I'm sure the casinos can find some way to
take money from entertain a captive audience.
Quote from: kkt on March 16, 2016, 04:47:36 PM
Quote from: jeffandnicole on March 16, 2016, 11:30:36 AM
I wonder what they're going to put around the charging port, or are people going to have to sit on a park bench or in their car in desert heat waiting for the vehicle to charge up?
Gee, it's in Nevada. I'm sure the casinos can find some way to take money from entertain a captive audience.
They're all planned to go in small towns, so it's not like they're in the middle of nowhere.
The site in Beatty is at "Eddie World", which is a gas station with Subway and includes the Death Valley Nut & Candy Co. It's undoubtedly the most popular place people stop when passing through Beatty. (It's also adjacent to the Stagecoach Casino/Hotel, the only major casino in the town.)
I don't know all the other sites for sure, as I don't think they're all finalized. But the one in Hawthorne is planned to go in at the NDOT rest area in town (which doubles as the town's veterans memorial park). It's right across the street from a McDonald's.
Sorry Nevada (and America), Sweden has the world's first electric highway.
http://truckyeah.jalopnik.com/the-worlds-first-electric-highway-is-operational-1782522700
Would it be neat if there's an electric highway in this country, part of our progress in design and maintenance of American highways or freeways (or turnpikes). Call it the "Nevada Neon State Highway" as a pun to the neon signage in the Vegas strip and downtown Reno.
I would imagine that trying to get through US 95 between Fallon and Vegas in an electric would make the trip slightly more interesting. Did they have someone break down in a Tesla from no-charge somewhere in the twin 94 mile no service zones between Hawthorne/Tonopah and Tonopah/Beatty?
Quote from: Max Rockatansky on June 24, 2016, 11:07:20 PM
I would imagine that trying to get through US 95 between Fallon and Vegas in an electric would make the trip slightly more interesting. Did they have someone break down in a Tesla from no-charge somewhere in the twin 94 mile no service zones between Hawthorne/Tonopah and Tonopah/Beatty?
94 miles is not a problem for a Tesla, even for a Model X towing a maximum load trailer. However, for most other common electric cars, such as a Leaf for example, 94 miles would have to be done at moderate speed with the A/C not set to Arctic. The farthest I've driven nonstop in my 2014 MB B-class is 107 miles, at which point it showed 10 miles of range left. It can go about 3 miles after the remaining range displays at 0. That drive was at a steady 55mph without heating or A/C. Several 2017 model year non-Tesla electric cars will have about 200 miles of range.
Anyway, there are already Tesla Superchargers between Reno and Las Vegas. The proposed charging stations discussed in this thread would be for all the non-Tesla electric cars, most of which currently cannot reasonably drive between Reno and Las Vegas.
Quote from: mcarling on June 25, 2016, 05:25:14 AM
Quote from: Max Rockatansky on June 24, 2016, 11:07:20 PM
I would imagine that trying to get through US 95 between Fallon and Vegas in an electric would make the trip slightly more interesting. Did they have someone break down in a Tesla from no-charge somewhere in the twin 94 mile no service zones between Hawthorne/Tonopah and Tonopah/Beatty?
94 miles is not a problem for a Tesla, even for a Model X towing a maximum load trailer. However, for most other common electric cars, such as a Leaf for example, 94 miles would have to be done at moderate speed with the A/C not set to Arctic. The farthest I've driven nonstop in my 2014 MB B-class is 107 miles, at which point it showed 10 miles of range left. It can go about 3 miles after the remaining range displays at 0. That drive was at a steady 55mph without heating or A/C. Several 2017 model year non-Tesla electric cars will have about 200 miles of range.
Anyway, there are already Tesla Superchargers between Reno and Las Vegas. The proposed charging stations discussed in this thread would be for all the non-Tesla electric cars, most of which currently cannot reasonably drive between Reno and Las Vegas.
Right but there is TWIN 94 mile stretches which leaves ole Tonopah in the middle, so really if you didn't stop there that's a good 192 miles between Hawthorne and Beatty. Given the volume of vehicles usually are broken down some where between those two towns I would imagine someone has tried and didn't make it. But then again this just sounds just like a good will thing and I'm being kind of sarcastic. Tesla usually are getting 300 miles on a full charge if I remember correctly?
Quote from: Max Rockatansky on June 25, 2016, 06:48:35 AM
Quote from: mcarling on June 25, 2016, 05:25:14 AM
Quote from: Max Rockatansky on June 24, 2016, 11:07:20 PM
I would imagine that trying to get through US 95 between Fallon and Vegas in an electric would make the trip slightly more interesting. Did they have someone break down in a Tesla from no-charge somewhere in the twin 94 mile no service zones between Hawthorne/Tonopah and Tonopah/Beatty?
94 miles is not a problem for a Tesla, even for a Model X towing a maximum load trailer. However, for most other common electric cars, such as a Leaf for example, 94 miles would have to be done at moderate speed with the A/C not set to Arctic. The farthest I've driven nonstop in my 2014 MB B-class is 107 miles, at which point it showed 10 miles of range left. It can go about 3 miles after the remaining range displays at 0. That drive was at a steady 55mph without heating or A/C. Several 2017 model year non-Tesla electric cars will have about 200 miles of range.
Anyway, there are already Tesla Superchargers between Reno and Las Vegas. The proposed charging stations discussed in this thread would be for all the non-Tesla electric cars, most of which currently cannot reasonably drive between Reno and Las Vegas.
Right but there is TWIN 94 mile stretches which leaves ole Tonopah in the middle, so really if you didn't stop there that's a good 192 miles between Hawthorne and Beatty. Given the volume of vehicles usually are broken down some where between those two towns I would imagine someone has tried and didn't make it. But then again this just sounds just like a good will thing and I'm being kind of sarcastic. Tesla usually are getting 300 miles on a full charge if I remember correctly?
Not quite 300 miles, the Model S and X get between 230 to 250 miles on a full charge.
Depending on the battery capacity chosen, the Tesla Model S and Model X get about 230 to 300 miles of range. Driving very conservatively can add up to 20%. Distances of 350 miles have been covered. It would take an idiot to fully discharge a Tesla between Reno and Las Vegas. Personally, I like stopping every 2-3 hours for a 20 minute break. The only time I might be annoyed by the need to stop for 20 minute charging sessions would be with two drivers alternating between stops.
Quote from: mcarling on June 25, 2016, 04:06:40 PM
Depending on the battery capacity chosen, the Tesla Model S and Model X get about 230 to 300 miles of range. Driving very conservatively can add up to 20%. Distances of 350 miles have been covered. It would take an idiot to fully discharge a Tesla between Reno and Las Vegas. Personally, I like stopping every 2-3 hours for a 20 minute break. The only time I might be annoyed by the need to stop for 20 minute charging sessions would be with two drivers alternating between stops.
The only problem is that most of US 95 is a 70 MPH zone so conservative driving is going to mean you are going to get run over. I don't think Teslas would have so much of a problem but a lot of shorter range EVs would unless they were willing to take it slow.
Quote from: Max Rockatansky on June 25, 2016, 10:29:55 PM
The only problem is that most of US 95 is a 70 MPH zone so conservative driving is going to mean you are going to get run over. I don't think Teslas would have so much of a problem but a lot of shorter range EVs would unless they were willing to take it slow.
That's right. With the exception of Tesla, most of the electric cars sold so far are not well suited to long-distance road trips. They are well suited for trips within a metro area. That will change with the 2017 models, several of which will have about 200 miles of range and Level 3 fast charging capability.